Alabama Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate II

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The Alabama Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) II is being funded to increase significantly the number of underrepresented minority students receiving doctoral degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and entering the professoriate. The Alabama AGEP II is a partnership between The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Auburn University, seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in Alabama; Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Miles College, Oakwood College, Stillman College, Talladega College and Tuskegee University, and one HBCU in Mississippi; Tougaloo College. The members of the Alliance are members of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and have a track record of working together successfully to implement minority student programs. The HBCU undergraduate partners will serve as feeder schools for the graduate university partners. The Alabama AGEP program has developed and will implement an innovative model for recruiting, mentoring, and retaining minority students in STEM doctoral programs using the following strategies: 1. Graduate School Awareness and Preparation Activities, 2. Recruitment and Admission Initiatives, 3. Graduate Bridge Programs, 4. Mentoring and Advising, 5. Creation of a Supportive Environment / Retention and Support Network, and 6. Degree Completion and Job Placement. Intellectual Merit: The implementation of the proposed activities will advance the knowledge and understanding of innovative methods to attract underrepresented minority undergraduate students to graduate school and eventually to careers in the professoriate. A well qualified and diverse team of experienced mathematicians and scientists serving as PIs at participating universities and colleges will explore and implement creative activities designed to increase the number of minority students earning Ph.D. degrees in STEM disciplines and entering the professoriate.Broader Impacts: The proposed activities will broaden participation of underrepresented minorities and benefit society by providing an increase in the number of citizens prepared to assume high-level positions in the nation's scientific and educational workforce. In addition, project activities will advance discovery and understanding through the integration of research and education by providing research experiences for undergraduate students at participating institutions.